By John Burton
5 October 2010
Yesterday—the first Monday in October—the Supreme Court opened its 2010 term with a docket of 51 cases, 23 of which raise issues primarily of concern to major corporations. While there are some civil rights and criminal law issues on the docket, notably absent at present is any case challenging the assault on democratic rights initiated by the Bush administration and continued under Obama’s, including summary imprisonment, rendition, torture and murder.
Thousands of petitions for certiorari, the technical name for review requests in the Supreme Court, are filed every year. The selection of cases is as revealing as the decisions themselves. Most likely 30 to 40 more cases will be added by the time the term ends in late June.
Newly confirmed Associate Justice Elena Kagan is sitting in the seat filled since 1975 by moderate John Paul Stevens, and asked her first question 20 minutes into the first oral argument, whether a bankruptcy debtor can shield the expense of maintaining a vehicle after the finance company has been paid back. Because of her role as Obama’s Solicitor General, the lawyer who represents the administration in Supreme Court matters, she is expected to disqualify herself in about half of the term’s cases.
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